The Nation

Jury selection begins today in New York for the murder trial of Robert Chambers Jr., and lawyers said it will be difficult because of the extensive publicity and because the case involves sex and violence among the city's privileged young people. Chambers, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in the strangulation of Jennifer Levin, 18, in Central Park in August, 1986. Chambers, a former drug addict, college dropout and burglary suspect, told police that Levin's death resulted from sex that got "rough." He says she sexually attacked and hurt him, and that while fighting her off he put pressure on her throat and accidentally killed her.